Evie sniffled. Ward slunk as far back into the shadows as a giant bear shifter could.
“Good thing I'm already pregnant,” Evie huffed.
“Yes. That. Say that,” Maggie said, rubbing her thighs together.
Well, that was certainly something. But when I reached for that familiar pathway, the one I hadn't even realized I’d grown to rely on, I got back nothing but static. My concern grew with every moment he didn't answer. Had I lost the right to worry about him by running away from my feelings?
“Nothing. I can't reach him.” I had to get to him even though I had just arrived here. Of all people, Maggie saw the war on my face.
She grabbed my hand, as soft as I’d ever seen her. “Babes, you can't do it all and that's perfectly acceptable. You're going to have to choose and be okay with doing one thing at a time.”
“I can't lose you, either of you. Old Magic hides Declan’s territory from the Harrowlands and he can't leave it without destroying Sombermane. How are we supposed to manage that?”
“We’ll come visit. No one says no to a Dragon and Maggie can shadow-walk anywhere.”
“And we are coming to visit because I’m going to look up every treatment for Hollow Fever and you’re going to take those sigils like a good girl. You’re not in this alone,Fallon.”
Tears welled up and the sisters surrounded me in an awkward embrace. With my friends at my back, my secrets out in the open, suddenly Declan's love no longer looked like a noose.
Evie heaved herself out of the chair. “In fact, I’ll take you back right now.”
Ward materialized beside us. “No, you will not. You’re pregnant with our child.”
Evie scrunched up her face. “I can do things.”
“You can do anything, my love… but not that. Let's not try perfecting your flying when you can crash-land on our offspring.”
Evie huffed out the largest sigh in the universe. “Fine. Maggie?”
Shadow-walking wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. Every time Maggie dragged us through that space, I threw up. “I can ride a horse back to Declan.”
Maggie checked her nails and delivered her usual level of devastation. “Let's not get stupid now.”
“If those are my choices…”
Maggie stood up, darkness pooling in her hands. “Yep. Let’s go!”
We hurtled into the dark with surprising speed for a witch that couldn’t power up just a year ago.
“You’re going to have to aim us. Just think about Declan and the bond should pull us through to him.”
I could do this. How much could have happened in a few hours?
I held on to the contents of my stomach because a sliver of bright lit the end of the twisting tunnel Maggie pulled us through.
Declan had to be okay. The monks were gone. He told me that I was free to leave. I had just been too stupid to admit that I wanted to stay.
“He’s just beyond.”
Maggie patted me on the ass. “Go get him, girl.”
I went to step out into Anise’s cheery kitchen and instead walked into a fog bank swirling around an ominous cathedral of pine trees. Moonlight filtered through the snow-laden branches and I pulled my coat tighter around me.
Maggie put a hand on my shoulder. “What in the seven hells? Is Declan crying soulfully beneath a withered pine tree as a symbol of your love?”
I absorbed the unfamiliar location. Creepier than the border crossing, my skin prickled with fear. “They all should have headed back home.”
Maggie looked at me sharply. “Wait. He doesn't live in some hole in the ground, does he?”
